published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

Founded in 1903, St. Stephen’s College is a secondary school with a history of more than one century. The school was relocated to Stanley, Hong Kong Island in the 1920s, and since then, it has witnessed the development of Hong Kong in every aspect, from the social improvement to the architectural development. During the Japanese occupation in the Second World War, it was even turned into the internment camp for the Hong Kong citizens by the Japanese. Most of the oldest buildings, which were built in 1930s, are still in use today. Besides, the school also has a number of different types of plants, which are worth to appreciate for plant lovers. Recently, the school office has decided to open the school to the public for their better understanding of the history of the school as well as Hong Kong. This dissertation will focus on two of the most important features of St. Stephen’s College: the natural potential and the architectural potential, for designing several different routes for the visitors with different interests. By analyzing and evaluating the two features, visitors can have a better knowledge about the school as well as enrich their experience while visiting the school. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

The key issue addressed by this dissertation is that a number of heritage buildings undergoing the adaptive reuse are having building components such as timber structure, timber staircase which cannot meet the current fire safety regulation. Given this, it is imperative to begin researching the reasons why the timber component in heritage buildings cannot comply with the current statutory fire resistance requirement and find out the methods in preserving the timber component. The dissertation will focus on timber floor which is a highly important component in meeting the fire safety requirement as it provides the compartment separation to inhabit the rapid spread of fire and smoke in a building and as the same time it is usually a character defining element having heritage value. The dissertation will try to find out the different methods of conserving the timber floor of the heritage building under adaptive reuse with examples. The different methods will be evaluated based on the fire performance, statutory acceptance and conservation principles and the appropriate method will be matched to the adaptive reuse heritage buildings in Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

This dissertation seeks to investigate the grading system and its effect on the private property development right of historic buildings in Hong Kong. Unlike the statutory nature of declaring a monument, the grading system is an administrative and internal measure that is mainly referred to the Antiquities and Monuments Office and Antiquities Advisory Board, and has no statutory significance. It could be understood that statutory measures, like declaring a monument, has an effect on development rights in the way that development parameters imposed under statutes have an effect on a given site; however despite the administrative nature of the grading system, there is a very strong perception among property owners and development that historical building gradings also have an effect on development rights. This dissertation will introduce the notion of and conflict between private property development rights and heritage conservation. Case studies from the local Hong Kong context will be used to illustrate the frustrations property owners face when trying to determine the future of their graded historic buildings. The dissertation will conclude using uses overseas case studies to provide some pointers on the way forward for the local heritage conservation system. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

This dissertation focuses on the military heritage in Hong Kong. It specifically covers a case-study military site – Pak Sha Wan Battery on the east of Hong Kong Island, an abandoned defensive mechanism and one of significant battlefields in the Battle of Hong Kong in 1941. This research dissertation is to examine military heritage as a Cultural Heritage with both tangible and intangible elements. By the Pak Sha Wan Battery as a case study, this is also to recognise the importance of the military heritage site in the history of Hong Kong, and the war relics deserve to be preserved for our future generations. To a certain extent, military heritage is neglected by people in Hong Kong. Part of the reason is perhaps because of a lack of a local military tradition. There has never been compulsory military service in Hong Kong. Additionally, Hong Kong does not involve in direct war conflict after the World War II. Military and war are concepts far away from Hongkongers. Few people could tell the location of military compounds and battlefields in Hong Kong. Military heritage may not even be considered as an important heritage because those military relics are just pieces of abandoned ruins to them! Owing to being neglected for long time, most of the Hong Kong war relics are overgrown and witnesses of the war become invisible to the people, though some military heritage sites are not actually hard to access, e.g. Pinewood Battery on Victoria Peak and the disused military structure on Devil’s Peak, and the former Lyemun military installations at the present-day Hong Kong Museum of Coastal Defence (HKMCD). As an assistant curator in a military theme museum in Hong Kong, the author find few publications on the Hong Kong military, and it is believed that many military relics in Hong Kong are still to be uncovered and documented. Pak Sha Wan Battery, inside the closed area of the HKMCD, is hardly accessible, and therefore it was least mentioned in publications. Most likely it is just mentioned the location name in publications but few further details information about the Battery can be found. It is hoped that this dissertation with the Pak Sha Wan Battery as a case study could help to document the gap of record in the military history of Hong Kong. / published_or_final_version / Conservation / Master / Master of Science in Conservation

The focus of the current Hong Kong Government’s efforts on conserving built heritage has been limited to the protection of a list of isolated monuments, whilst the historic, aesthetic, and social values of systems or a cluster of heritage sites has not yet been understood by preservationists. Shing Mun Redoubt, with an extensive system of trenches and pillboxes along the old Gin Drinker’s Line, the so-called Maginot of the East, is a case in point. Few research works have dealt with the preservation of military heritage from a sustainable development perspective. As a Schumpeterian innovation in heritage conservation study, this thesis uses a modified Yu’s model of sustainable development to interpret the potential of the Shing Mun Redoubt as an example of sustainable heritage conservation. Aspects of win-win-solutions achieved by property development are discussed from an estate surveying point of view, together with a review of some examples of the conservation of other forms of military heritage in real life. / published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

This dissertation examines the notion of ‘sense of place’, which is the collection of meanings, beliefs, symbols, values and feelings that individuals or groups associate with a particular locality. Hong Kong is a city where changes and transformations happen frequently, and these changes have great influences on the overall image of the city. Realizing that all true places have distinctive identities and characters, urban planners and designers start to see the importance of engendering a ‘sense of place’ in the urban landscape through heritage conservation, so that a historical urban identity and authentic urban identity can be preserved and to enrich the overall landscape. The new understanding that heritage conservation should not only focus on restoring the authenticity, but also to conserve the overall urban experience has led to the inquiry of people’s behavior in the place, and how their emotional ties to a place is formed. Understanding that people’s place attachment can be studied through their ability in imaging the place, this dissertation introduces environmental mapping – a qualitative research method in gathering spatial information of a place from the conscious and unconscious behaviors and minds of people. Through a case study on Cattle Depot Artist Village, we will be able to understand how a sense of place is developed, and how the environmental mapping method can be applied in urban planning and conservation projects. / published_or_final_version / Urban Planning and Design / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning

This thesis explores the relationship between environmental restoration and social-economic factors. It focuses on the erosion treatment on the Loess Plateau, especially the Grain to Green Project (GGP), the biggest national-range environmental treatment program in China in recent years. GGP produced significant impact on local landform, landuse and livelihood. On one hand, the program effectively controlled torrent by increasing soil aggregation; on the other hand, it lacked long-term perspectives and had underestimated the complexity of the environment and of local residents. The thesis seeks to bridge the gaps between soil treatment policy and the actual effect. Research was conducted on soil erosion across multiple scales and key issues are generated based on typical cases. Findings from the research serve as guidelines for the following design proposition. The design applies hierarchical method, including both top-down and bottom-up interventions. First, a division method for erosion states was developed which can divide the erosion problem within the range of the yellow river into small catchment basins. Second, a typical catchment basin was selected as an example to show proposed strategy in three scales: catchment, slope and patches. The core design idea is to conserve resources and maximize output in sustainable ways. The fragmented land patches are integrated to complete the production model. The study site is planned according to field condition, such as erosion process, slope ratio, lighting, water resource and distance to settlements. Patches were identified using vegetation coverage and appropriate planting strategies were proposed accordingly. In sum, the thesis is a critique of existing GGP. A new solution is proposed that can mitigate the conflict of soil erosion treatment and socio-economic development of local communities. / published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Landscape Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture